Before that, he helped set up India’s software and outsourcing giant, Infosys. Now, the techie-turned-bureaucrat is turning to politics.

How will his previous experience in the country’s I.T. hub and at the heart of a major national government program, translate into politics and help him win Bangalore south for the ruling Congress party?

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Mr. Nilekani has certainly made a savvy move in his choice of constituency. If Bangalore is the I.T. capital of India, the south of the city is its heart: a magnet for the country’s technology professionals because of its proximity to the big I.T. firms.

His record at Infosys, where he was instrumental in the meteoric rise of the company while chief executive officer for five years from 2002, will likely appeal to those residents. During Mr. Nilekani’s tenure, Infosys saw a four-fold jump in annual revenue to $3.1 billion.

Suresh Babu Modi, a software professional with a U.S.-based multinational I.T. firm, who lives in Bangalore south has switched allegiance from the Bharatiya Janata Party because Mr. Nilekani is in the race.

“Nandan Nilekani is really an iconic figure in the IT sector,” Mr. Modi said. ”Irrespective of the company I work for, or the software service I offer, or the party that Nilekani belongs to, I support him.”

Still, others say his lack of political experience in the face of a formidable opponent in Ananth Kumar, a five-time member of Parliament for the principal opposition BJP, may prove a serious challenge.

Mr. Nilekani will need to build a connection with the common people, something that might not come as easily to him as forming a client relationship at Infosys, some say.

“Nilekani’s expertise at Infosys lies in building business-to-business relationships, not business-to-consumer ties,” said Ruthvik Ganjur, a project engineer with software exporter Wipro.

In politics, he will have to develop the skills to directly deal with consumers, or rather voters, said Mr. Ganjur, who will also be voting in the seat Mr. Nilekani coverts.

His time overseeing the Aadhar system of issuing a 12-digit unique I.D. number to every citizen of India, a program which has been criticized recently by the BJP for threatening national security could count against him, others say.

“For the last few years, we have seen how Aadhaar issue has been going on. It’s not much of a success,” said Aabha Gopal, a project manager with a U.S.-based software company.

But India’s Supreme Court ruled last year that it is not mandatory for access to benefits such as subsidized gas cylinders, fertilizer, or food grain, leading many to question the point behind it.

Mr. Nilekani’s candidature for the Congress party itself might also be a drawback considering the allegations of corruption that the party faces, Mr. Gopal added.

Another executive with a U.S.-based software firm, who is also a resident of south Bangalore agreed. “Nilekani is the right person in the wrong party,” the executive said.

Mr. Nilekani’s “magic touch” with Infosys might just be limited to the corporate world, “it’s a different ballgame to run a company of 150,000 employees” and overseeing a larger set of the population, the executive said, adding that employees can be hand-picked, voters cannot.

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